Ink Review #193: Diamine Blue Flame

Blue week here at Mountain of Ink is almost over, but not quite yet. Today's blue ink is Diamine Blue Flame, from the 2016 Diamine Shimmertastics Collection. I purchased my sample of ink from Vanness Pens. 

The color:

Blue Flame is a medium blue with gold shimmer. The color does lean a little bit toward blue violet.

I love these ink drops-so pretty.

Dry time: 30 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: Low shading, medium burgundy sheen, and gold shimmer. The sheen shows up the best on Tomoe River paper, but also shows up a bit on Leuchtturm as well. 

On 20 pound copy paper there was just a touch of feathering but other than that the ink behaved well.

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): J. Herbin 1670 Bleu Ocean, Diamine Blue Flame, and Diamine Cobalt Jazz. Click here to see the Diamine inks together, the Shimmertastics are at the bottom of the page. Bleu Ocean and Blue Flame are similar, but in writing Bleu Ocean is quite a bit darker.

Diamine Arabian Nights, Diamine Tudor Blue, and Nemosine Blue Snowball Nebula Twinkle. Click here to see the blue inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a broad Conklin Durograph on Tomoe River paper. The ink had an average flow. The shimmer was not consistent-I got a spurt of shimmer in the first two lines and then no shimmer for a few lines until I rotated the pen again, then I got another two lines of shimmer.

Overall, this ink feels like a slightly lighter version of J. Herbin 1670 Bleu Ocean. It performs well, except for the inconsistent shimmer flow, I just don't think I like it enough to buy a full bottle. 

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.